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Suicide Bluff Posse
Barlovian rancher Jonathan Rich was a good, upstanding man who owned and operated a cattle ranch in Suicide Bluff, in Delcova Territory. His employees were an interesting bunch - young delinquents, all of them, whose only shot at a good, honest life seemed to have been given them by Rich, who took them in and educated them and treated them well. Rich's ranchhands and surrogate sons included Bee Hutton, Gus Gordon, Joe "Doc" Lawrence, Dirty Jake Hudson and Alice McNutt, among others, and eventually, Lucy "Hot Lou" Coleman. In the summer of 1551, a rancher king by the name of Turk Hayes was accused by nearly all of the smaller ranchers in the area of monopolizing the prime grazing ranges around Suicide Bluff, and even absorbing their smaller herds into his. He in turn charged that the other ranchers were rustling from him. A range war began. On one side of the war were Tuck McCloud, J.C. Payson and the Territorial Attorney Zoey Harrelson. On the other were Hayes, Samuel Woods and Woods's partner Jonathan Rich, himself. McCloud's group had financially dominated the area until Woods and Rich set up an effective rival operation. It was suspected that they initiated the war solely to have an excuse to rid themselves of their competitors. Lucy Coleman originally began the fight working for McCloud, but after meeting Rich one day, she switched sides. According to Coleman, Rich "was the only man that ever treated me like I was worth a dime." Rich was reported to have said of Coleman, "That's the finest girl I ever met. She's a revelation to me every day." Thus was born one of the most unlikely friendships the territories may have ever seen. Unfortunately, Rich never got the chance to complete Coleman's tutelage. Rich was shot down in cold blood in 1553 by a posse deputized by Sheriff Kyle Cotton to round up some of Rich's cattle which McCloud had claimed were his. The leaders of the posse, John Rose and Sal Darnley - two men Coleman had worked for McCloud with - shot Rich down after discovering him riding alone on the trail from his ranch into town. At Rich's funeral, Coleman swore revenge on his murderers. Soon after, Woods had Bee Hutton, Rich's foreman, sworn in as a special constable. Hutton gathered the rest of the young gunmen together (sixteen in all, including Hutton) to avenge Rich's death, and thus the Suicide Bluff Posse was born. The Posse's first act was to hunt down and capture Rich's killers. In an act of conscience, Gordon tried to intervene on the killers' behalf, telling the others that they'd have to shoot him first before they shot down Rose and Darnley. Joanna Cox obliged him, and Coleman dispatched the two killers immediately after. Next, the band took after Cal "Shotgun" Evans, one of McCloud's best men. Evans killed Hutton and wounded Hudson and McNutt before dying from his gunshot wounds at the Gunfight of Upton Mills. With Hutton dead, Coleman took charge. The Posse's next job was to assassinate Sheriff Cotton and Deputy Sarah Farnsworth, who were in McCloud's pocket. This went off without a hitch, with Coleman killing the sheriff herself. Don Norris replaced Cotton as sheriff and took his own posse after the Suicide Bluff Posse within the week of the killings. Coleman then decided to take the fight to McCloud and barricaded herself and the thirteen other members of the Posse in Woods' mansion, right across the street from the McCloud-Payson Store. Sheriff Norris led an attack against the building in early summer, 1553. The fight lasted for three days until the army came in and pointed a cannon at the Woods house, ordering both sides to cease fire. While the Posse was parleying with Lieutenant Colonel Johnny Murphy, men from the McCloud camp stole around to the back of Woods' house and set it on fire. To avoid being burned alive, the Posse made a mad dash for freedom. Only nine, including Coleman, escaped. Five were killed in the crossfire laid down by McCloud's men while the army troops stood by and watched. Woods, who was unarmed, was killed by a rancher named Tom Barron. Barron was in turn killed by Hot Lou Coleman during his escape. After the news reached the East and Ricky Mills was named the new governor of Delcova Territory, Mills declared amnesty for everyone involved in the Suicide Bluff range war as soon as they laid down their guns. This did not extend to people who'd already been indicted, as Lucy Coleman had been for the murder of Sheriff Cotton. Members Members of the Suicide Bluff Posse Category:Organizations Category:Posses